[Publisher’s note: This article’s headline has been updated to reflect clarifications provided by WEBTOON on Monday, April 18, 2022. WEBTOON wished to clarify that they do not have censorship policies, as our headline originally indicated, but rather, they have publicly available Content Guidelines. WEBTOON indicated that their Support Team Members all refer to the same moderation policies, however, WEBTOON noted that “[m]oderation is an inherently interpretive practice and occasionally that may result in divergent interpretations.” – WB]
Making a webcomic is hard work. Even more difficult, in this age of everybody only visiting four websites, is getting eyes on your webcomic. Many creators are drawn to webcomics portals that allow them to upload their comics, tag them, and let the website’s algorithm decide who should see it. The biggest of these portals, with over 72 million active users as of November 2021, is WEBTOON, where anyone can make an account and start posting comics to the Canvas portion of the platform. And yet, some creators are growing frustrated with how they believe WEBTOON censors mature content on Canvas: arbitrarily, without warning or proper communication, and in direct contradiction to their own stated policies.
On the surface, it seems straightforward: as an app, WEBTOON is beholden to the restrictions of the App Store, and as a Google AdSense partner it is also beholden to those policies as well. Canvas creators taking part in WEBTOON’s adshare program are required to follow the AdSense guidelines. The Google AdSense publishing policy says no sexually explicit acts and no “cartoon porn”, while the App Store’s guidelines prohibit “explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.” Apple’s App Store guidelines also have more guidelines for user-generated content in specific, saying that “Apps with user-generated content that end up being used primarily for pornographic content […] do not belong on the App Store and may be removed without notice,” and requiring multiple types of moderation for apps with user-generated content to remain in the App Store, while content created by the app itself can be more closely moderated by the developers. This explains why Canvas comics, which anyone can post themselves for free, are more likely to have episodes taken down rather than be allowed to slide with a “for mature readers” label, the way some Originals (which are paid for and published by WEBTOON, with editorial oversight) are allowed to exist. WEBTOON’s own guidelines take it a step further and prohibit “content that contains nudity or intended to be sexually gratifying, [including but not limited to] full and partial nudity, as well as graphic depictions of sexual acts.”
The problem is that these definitions seem open to interpretation. Obscenity has been famously defined as “you know it when you see it,” and obscenity in comics is no exception. WEBTOON Canvas creators have reported seeing their comics removed for suggestive sound effects, low-cut tops on busty women, and even cartoon cherub butts. Comics about mermaids are especially prone to censorship, as the classic mermaid shell bra is considered partial nudity, and even highly stylized and simplified cartoon breasts are too close to the line for WEBTOON’s content moderators.
When asked for comment, Kiel Hume, Head of International Communications at WEBTOON stated, “WEBTOON’s goal is to create a safe, inclusive space for every type of comic creator and fan. Our robust Content Guidelines apply to all WEBTOON creators, ensuring creators have creative freedom to pursue their vision for their work, while also keeping WEBTOON safe and inclusive for everyone.” Officially, WEBTOON doesn’t have a policy to censor content, but in practice, this means cartoonists are expected to censor their own comics, covering up or removing anything that might cause a sudden takedown.
Many creators and their fans, when complaining about takedowns, cite the Original Webtoon Let’s Play by Mongie as an example of a highly sexual and suggestive comic that is not only allowed to exist, but is frequently featured on the front page as one of the platform’s most popular comics. However, Let’s Play has also had run-ins with WEBTOON’s content moderation team a few times, although as an Original this usually happens before uploading. On December 20, 2021, the creator of Let’s Play confirmed on Twitter that the comic is now “age-gated” for mature audiences after an update was delayed due to a “censoring concern.” (Unfortunately for fans in Indonesia, no 18+ Webtoons are available on the Indonesian version of the international app due to the country’s strict pornography law.)
In 2020, WEBTOON, known as Naver WEBTOON in South Korea where it was founded, made headlines in Korea for excessive censorship of its Original comics to meet guidelines from Korean media ratings boards that have not been made available to the public. Readers complained about blurred-out fight scenes and pixelated knives. Many of these comics were released internationally in the same censored state, leading Western readers to wonder if they were getting the full experience and if there was an uncensored version they could read somewhere else.
Spiga Rose, the creator of Undefiled Wings, first encountered WEBTOON moderation in September 2020 in an experience extensively documented on their Instagram. Through a lot of back-and-forth emails with WEBTOON Support, they learned that WEBTOON does not allow the “black box” or “mosaic” censoring creators use to obscure potentially contentious parts of their art, but expects the censoring elements to blend in with the art seamlessly, such as steam in a shower or a well-placed bush. For Spiga, however, a WEBTOON representative first approved their use of gray censor boxes before another representative removed it and said it didn’t follow the guidelines.
This is notable because nowhere in WEBTOON’s terms of service or community guidelines is there a word about black box or mosaic censoring. And as previously mentioned, WEBTOON Originals often use mosaic censoring to hide things deemed excessively violent or gory.
Canvas episodes have been removed without warning, and only after the removal were the creators emailed with notices that their episodes were taken down. If a creator then edits and reuploads the offending episode or emails to appeal, they might get more information as to why their content was removed, and the changes might be approved, but it’s not guaranteed. This lack of transparency and clarity about how their policies are implemented is, frankly, unfair to creators who are doing their best to abide by the rules of the platform they choose to share their work on. The fact that different Support team members have different standards for what’s acceptable and what isn’t is also confusing and unfair.
Fortunately, for creators dissatisfied with WEBTOON’s unclear and arbitrary implementation of censorship, there are alternatives, and one such alternative many people are turning to recently is Tapas. On Tapas, mature comics are separated off for 18+ readers only, but the same episodes that get taken down on WEBTOON Canvas are allowed to remain on Tapas, where those same creators are allowed to be part of the Creator Bonus program. Spiga Rose continues to post their webcomic on Tapas, where they now have over 7,000 subscribers.
If daring and interesting stories keep getting cut down out of nowhere by uncommunicative moderators to appease the vague standards of a corporation, the creators of those stories are going to find somewhere else to put them. It’s unlikely that we’ll return to the self-hosted webcomic days of the 2000s and early 2010s any time soon, but with policies that push its creators away, it’s possible that WEBTOON will not be the biggest game in town for much longer.
